Montag, 28. Oktober 2013

More Bang For Your Buck

I feel your pain

When my business partner and I sought out to launch peerpackers, I thought it was only fair that I personally go through the process of crowdfunding if I was going to be in this business. How could I fully understand the process, or advise others, if I had not run a campaign myself? When I crowdfunded, I did some things right ... and some things wrong. I was a newbie, after all!

What I did right was to frame my message to communicate that I was asking for backers to help me help others, rather than fund me, per se. I made it clear that by supporting my launch of a crowdfunding platform for entrepreneurs, contributors would get more bang for their buck because they were "paying it forward" to the many small business owners who would benefit from our site. I also knew to review my network in advance and make a promotional plan.

I kept my campaign in front of everyone via direkt emails and Facebook posts. There were no platforms available on which to post - Kickstarter and Indiegogo were focused solely on arts at the time - so I had a friend designed a limited functionality peerbackers site (no built-in social media sharing tools, no bells and whistles) as my crowdfunding mechanism.

What I did not know at the time was that engaging a team would have expanded my reach, and I should have worked in advance of the campaign to contact press.